Jinhae tower

After going to bed late, we got up late, not realizing just how late it was. Since I turned my phone off for church and had forgotten to turn it back on, the alarm did not ring. When I got to the kitchen, the clock read 9:45! I boiled water for coffee while swishing, dry brushing and exercising. I meditated and tapped while detoxing. Afterward I cleaned in the kitchen, more extensively than usual. I read e-mail and listened to audios, then decided to buy the interviews from the Awakening from Alzheimers Summit. Chris played his game all day. Finally we dressed for going out. We walked into town to the Jinhae tower. We walked up the steps, pausing frequently to stretch. I took some pics and then we looked for the road down. But there were many, plus paths and steps. I continued to stop and stretch. I wasn’t sure where we were at times but I could see the electric towers of the base. So we headed in that general direction. We looked through the traditional market, picking up a bag of apples. When we got back, Chris cored them and added nuts and raisins. He put them in the oven. I heated a piece of steak and added butter because it needed more fat. Then we ate some of the cooked apples. I read e-mail. I downloaded the audios and transcripts from the summit. I looked up Robert’s Rules of Order. I realized that in order for the procedure to work, everyone in the group had to learn the rules, which are contained in a 700+ page book. I couldn’t see the FRG doing that, so I looked up alternatives. I read through a few but they did not quite address our situation.
I added items to my Swanson’s order. I did not finalize because I am waiting for a better offer. Currently it is 10% off. There should have been a big sale for Columbus Day. I took my night-time supplements, including magnesium and melatonin. Then we watched two episodes of House. Chris helped me download pics from my phone. I checked e-mail one last time. Then I posted to my blog and probably went to bed.

Make-over

I got up before 8 because Chris got up to take his shower and get ready for church. I combed out my hair. The oil level seemed right but my hair still wanted to stand up rather than lay down and it parted on the left, which I never do. I tied a scarf around my head to encourage it to lay flat. I cleared e-mail while listening to audios from the Alzheimers summit. At 9:30 I took my shower. I hemmed the sleeves of the version 4 dress and put it on. Chris walked home from church. I raced around looking for the blue sling purse that almost matches the dress. Then I put on my shoes and we got in the car. Chris dropped me off at the chapel. I sat in the pew with Kathy and her family. We sang the praise songs. When it came time to shake hands, the lady behind me said she had met me at the embassy party in Busan. She remembered my name but I had to ask for hers. Did I remember it? Sadly, no. But her husband has worked with my husband. So maybe Chris knows her name? Sadly, no. The sermon was about how Jesus showed 8 qualities of good leadership. After the service, Chris was there to pick me up. But I had to visit the restroom and when I came back, he was conversing. It was after noon when we walked to the commissary for groceries. When we got home, we put the food away. I sat down to clear e-mail and finish an audio from earlier. I learned that mice given the equivalent of 2 apples a day decreased their inflammatory markers as much as the most powerful NSAIDs. I am all for eating apples, but as it turns out, you have to make applesauce with the peels on to get the right stuff. And commercial applesauce won’t work, he said. I tried on the dress I got in Busan with the shoes I bought in Masan. The dress was too long. I took off the silvery strip that was sewn under the bust line.

I tried different underwear to find something that fit with the dress. I put a strip of fabric through a gemstone barrette and pinned it to the front of the dress. It looked ok, but being a curved barrette, it did not sit flush. I tried running a full-length strip of fabric from neckline to hemline. That looked ok, too, I guess. I wished Michele were here to give her opinion. She was always my fashion consultant. Isn’t that why I had her? I sewed scraps of the version 5 dress together to see if the needle and thread combination works. It did. But I needed a break. I meant to go to the tower and walk up the 365 steps, but I got too involved in doing google searches and never went. Around 4:30 I went outside to run up and down the steps behind the duplex. When I came in, Chris was putting steaks in the oven and making asparagus. I took my supplements. I read e-mail until supper was ready. I ate supper while reading e-mail. Then I made seed crackers and removed unwanted items from the dining room table while the crackers baked. I took an anti-inflammatory to see if it had any effect on the painful patch on my scalp. (It did not.) Then we watched three episodes of House. Somehow Greatest American Heroine came up on Youtube and we watched that episode, thinking at first that it was just a song. Then I sat down to write my blog. About 11:30, Nela called me on Facebook. She is still under evacuation to Florida. After the call, I posted to my blog and went to bed.

Oktoberfest

I got up by nine. It was Replay Day for both of the summits I have been listening to this week, plus one I signed in late for. So, I started listening to Betrayal, which is a 7 part series on autoimmune disorders. While listening, I did today’s puzzle and exercised. I worked on my ball gown, matching pieces and basting them together and cutting off what did not match.
I ate an apple after hearing about the mice who ate the equivalent of 2 apples a day experiencing anti-inflammatory effects.
At 4 I took a shower to get the oil out of my hair. Then we walked to the Wentz’s for Octoberfest. He had made three kinds of beer: pumpkin, India Pale Ale, and Octoberfest. The pumpkin was my favorite. They made pretzels out of the spent grains, so I tried one. Chris drank a mug of each beer and I had a small sip of each. We went out back where they had a canopy set up with tables and chairs. He was wearing lederhosen and she was wearing a dirndl. They served an international menu: bratwurst, potato salad, fruit platter, asparagus wrapped in bacon, seaweed, chicken adobo, beer-shaped cake, cookies, sunflower seeds and jabchai. Some people brought stuff with them. Sadly, it rained the whole time. So, people came in with wet shoes, took them off to get beer inside then had to put them back on to go out back for food. Lots of people came and after 2 hours it was crowded. I asked Kelly to cut my hair next week. Then I signaled Chris and we went home. I made breakfast and finished basting the last piece. Then I ate breakfast while we watched two episodes of House. I played old songs on my new laptop and sang along. Chris and I danced to one of them. I took my supplements. I wrote up my blog post for the day, thinking I must have forgotten something because it was so short.
* The cake. *

The one puzzle I can't solve

I did not hear Chris get up for his 5 am conference call. And I assume he went running because there was a wet t-shirt draped over the hamper. The head pains did not start immediately upon waking, but soon after I opened my eyes. But they were not bad or frequent. I noticed a patch of my scalp hurt, as though I had the flu. So I doused my head with a mixture of castor and coconut oil. I wanted to wrap my head to keep the oil in, but a towel seemed too bulky and I couldn’t think of anything else. I put hydrogen peroxide in each ear, but there was no fizzing. I sat down at my laptop to drink water and clear e-mail. I put on a video which was a collection of interviews. It was not nearly as informative as the one yesterday. I worked today's puzzle. I made a to-do list and wasn’t able to think of much. I paused the interviews and watered the plants. I found a reddish tomato, so I picked it. I put my home made salves in a bowl on a pot of water on the stove. I softened each one enough to add the missing lemon oil, then put each one back in its container to solidify again. I started a Swanson’s order, but needed one more item to get the special offer. Chris came home for lunch while I was making up supplements for the week. I stopped long enough for him to make his lunch. I was feeling dizzy so I did just enough to get the special offer.
I submitted the order – or thought I did. I took a break, then finished assembling the supplements. I put the bottles away, and cleaned some stuff off the dining room table. I cleaned up the kitchen counters, then made and ate breakfast. I listened to one of the songs for Sunday on Youtube. That led to videos on making things from plastic bottles (downspout, netting, magnifying bubble, vacuum cleaner attachment, mousetrap, self-watering planter, etc.) Then I watched him make a blade sharpener from his old hard drive. I laid down to listen to an audio, and fell asleep. When I got up, I read more e-mail. Then I put on another audio and worked on my dress. I picked up all the cut out pieces lying around and put them together so I could baste the solid pieces to the lacy pieces to make one piece of each. But the matching was really hard because the solid pieces were so stretchy. I matched and basted the back piece, but the side pieces were still a problem. Chris came home from work. My back started to hurt so I laid down and did some stretches. Chris made and ate his usual supper. I washed up some lettuce and added cucumber. I cleared more e-mail. I made an on-line donation to Childreach for the children in Haiti. I went to start a new Swanson's order and it showed that I hadn't submitted the first one, but the offer had expired. I put on an audio and examined the dress pieces to see if I could identify side front panels from side back panels. Not well enough. Chris was ready, so we sat down to watch two episodes of Castle. I spotted a large centipede crawling under one of the livingroom chairs. I called out to Chris and he slapped it with a shoe. Then I put the food waste in the container for tomorrow’s pick-up. I posted to my blog with the intention of going to bed.
* The ball is one week from today and the dress is still in pieces. *

Our 26th anniversary

Last night Firefox crashed and I had to reboot to get it restarted. I had to restart the video as well. It was over an hour long so I did not have time to listen to all of it. I paused it, put the laptop in ‘sleep’ mode and went to bed.
I got up in the morning with pains in my head, but fewer and less intense than before. I got dressed and drank water, hurrying to be ready by 8 for a session with my tapping buddy. But Skype never delivered my rescheduling message. Then Myra called to go walking. I got ready and met her outside. We went down the trail to see the spot she thought would make a good dog park. We walked back down Cherry Blossom Lane, and went up the hill behind my house. The dump site was all cleaned up. As we walked up the road, we spotted tiny persimmons by the side. Myra picked one up and gave it to me. We turned around then because crews were out cleaning up the debris from the storm. Then we walked by Kathy’s house because she texted me about shortening her dress. She put it on and stood on a stool. We pinned it up in the front. Then we took it to Myra’s house. She got out her cutting board and I marked it with a ruler and chalk all the way around. Then I cut it with a rotary cutter. Then we packed it all back in Kathy’s bag. I went home to make and eat breakfast. I took an anti-inflammatory. Chris came home for lunch and handed me an anniversary card. It is our 26th! I finished the interview from last night and started today’s puzzle. I met Myra again. We dropped the bag at Kathy’s house, then walked off post, heading to the tower. We walked up the steps, going over halfway. (There are 365 steps) Then we stopped to rest and stretch. There was a team of Koreans cleaning the steps, so we waited a bit, then came back down. It was harder than going up. My legs felt a little sore. We walked to the nearby market and ran into Sook. As we wandered and talked, we found an unusual fruit. We could not identify it. The seller insisted that we try some. It wasn’t sweet, but was otherwise ok. I bought some. I also bought apples at a nearby stand, and some lettuce. Sook left then and we went back. We stopped at the Chinese massage place. Myra left with my apples but I stayed. I ordered the head to foot massage and paid beforehand. He indicated that I should put on a set of oversized shirt and shorts. I changed and came out for the foot massage. He and I watched a movie on the large screen. I did not understand much, but it involved Korean military, female nurses and a doctor, some famous military leader needing emergency care. Then it was time for the body massage so we went into a small room. Although it was a bit intense at times, he did not push the limit when I winced. It was a really good massage, especially in the shoulders. Myra would have liked it. Maybe if I had taken the muscle relaxer today, it would have been easier? I walked back to base. When I got home, I found the apples on my porch. I called Myra, then met her for some banana leaf wraps that Anna had given her. We met other people walking down to a Hail and Farewell somewhere off post. I picked some dandelion and put it in vinegar water with the lettuce I bought. I raked the side yard and watered impatiens. I rinsed the lettuce and ate it. I also ate an apple. Chris came home from work. I started a loaf of bread. I showed him the unusual fruit. He ate one, and liked it except for the seeds. He also ate a banana wrap, but did not like it. I ate several of them. He made his own supper. I jotted notes for my blog. We watched one episode of Castle. Chris stayed up for a few more minutes until his loaf of bread was done. He put it in the fridge for tomorrow, then set his alarm for 4am and went to bed. I finished my audio, drank some salt water, and went to bed.
* What kind of fruit is this? *

Chaba

I woke up before 7, hearing the wind gusting like giant waves and feeling the pains in my head start up, but infrequently. I got up to pee and check the time. I looked out the windows and things were relatively in place. I drank some water and went back to bed. Chris cuddled with me because the wind was scary. Later we got up to check e-mail for weather updates. There was nothing on our community Facebook page. Chris was not going to work, so I texted my skype buddy to reschedule. I worked on Monday’s puzzle. I looked at multiple diagrams and videos on pressure points on the back of the head for healing. I used a tennis ball and laid down with it under my head in different spots. The electric shocks quieted and I fell asleep. When I woke up the storm was over and the sun was shining. I went back to reading e-mail, trying to clear it out. I did the Tuesday and Wednesday puzzles while listening to audios. I made and ate breakfast. I watched way too many videos on life hacks – loved the one on peeling hard-boiled eggs, and rubbing shoes with a candle to make them waterproof. Denee came over to borrow a stick of hot glue, but I did not have her size so she borrowed my gun as well. I really needed some fresh air, so I asked Chris to walk with me. I got dressed and took an anti-inflammatory. We walked around the base, took pics of storm damage, We saw the area mentioned as a possible site for a dog park. I looked at my flower beds. They were ok, but a little battered. The spider webs on the clothes line were still there, amazingly. I put my potted plants back where they came from. I watered some of them. I raked up all the debris in the front yard. I came in and ate something. I made hand sanitizer. I watched House with Chris. He took a break to listen in on a group call, then rejoined me for the rest of a second episode. Then he went to bed. I stayed up to blog and listened to part of a video which was a series of interviews on auto immune issues.

Prep for wind and rain

I woke up while Chris was getting ready for work. When I was fully awake, the nerve pains started up again. I went outside to water the plants and get some early sunshine. I walked up to the dump but it was all gone. I drank a quart of water. I read e-mail holding a warm washcloth with essential oils on the side of my head. Then I tried ice. I played a few phrases on my flute to warm up. I took a shower, and then cleaned it. I got dressed in yoga clothes. I listened to an audio while I did warm-up yoga moves. I finished the audio which gave recipes for all-purpose cleaner and hand sanitizer. I grabbed my flute and walked to Anna’s house. Her neck was hurting so we did not do any yoga but we watched videos of people doing acro-yoga so we could get some ideas for a routine. It was evident to me that the most important thing we need is more leg and arm strength. When her alarm rang, she had to go pick up her kids. So I put on my shoes and walked home. Chris came home for lunch with a bag of rice from the commissary. He gave me an old sock. I sewed across the toe to close up the holes. Then I held the top open as Chris poured the rice in. I tied the end shut and microwaved it. I placed it on my neck as I read e-mail. We opened and read the anniversary card from my dad. I made my chocolate shake, then read e-mail. I realized I had a text from Denee: she wanted to borrow a broom. So I went next door with a broom. Myra tried to call me but I did not have my phone so she stopped by to see if I wanted to go out in town. Denee wanted to go, too. I took an anti-inflammatory, then grabbed my purse and got in the car. She drove it over to Security and parked. We walked out into the market, looking for lettuce and pomegranates. When we were at the dollar store, Jane called. She said she’d meet us at Daiso. We went to Daiso to find coffee cups. I wanted to get a glass spray bottle for making hand sanitizer. Jane showed up and helped us ask for glass rather than plastic bottles. We walked back passing the watch shop. Denee got her husband’s watch fixed. When we got to the corner market, Jane spotted some lettuce that was on sale. I told the others to go ahead. When Jane was done, we went to the visitor center and I signed her on post. We walked to the ATM. She got American cash. Then I signed her off again. As I was walking up the hill toward home, I ran into a bunch of ladies having a doggie play date. I stopped to talk to Carolyn and Amber. When I continued on, I ran into Akia with her dog and child. She promised to come to sewing tomorrow. I went home and made breakfast. I read about a typhoon coming here tomorrow, so I called Myra about possibly canceling classes. Chris called to ask me to turn on the oven but by then I was on my way to Myra’s house. I was taking emergency rations to her (home made chocolate). She and I talked until Scott came home. When I got home, I moved pots of flowers and seedlings from various places to the front porch for protection, or under the shrubs or along the wall in the flowerbed. Then I read more e-mail. I posted cancellation of the classes, since CYP was closed and so were all MWR activities. I felt a pain in my head and realized it was the first one since the watch shop, so the anti-inflammatory helped. I ate some onion soup while Chris ate his pizza. I jotted notes for my blog. We called my dad to thank him for the anniversary card. He did not seem to understand that it was 10pm here. I took a muscle relaxer. We watched the last episode of Bones season 11. Chris went to bed and I stayed up to watch an episode of House with the rice sock on my neck. Then I posted to my blog and went to bed.
* My plants are huddling on the porch against the on-coming storm. The deer and the pigs and the slugs may be having a party. *